Hoping to advance in to the JCC of Bayonne Indoor Soccer Sr. Division “Championship Tournament” gold medal round, the (4-4) Rockets faced off against the (0-8) Sonics. Playing at a fevered pace, the Rockets racked up four rapid fire goals as Matteo Capurso converted passes from Jason Herbert (1 assist) and Raul Cortinas (3 assists) into a 4-0 Rockets advantage. With thirty five minutes still left to play, Capurso continued to dominate the action as he torched the Sonics’ net for three more goals with Christopher Caballero (2 assists) and Aaliyana Cifuentes (1 assist) lending a hand. Staring at 7-0 deficit, the Sonics got on the board as Jaiden Garcia drilled a goal off an assist by Jacob Rivera making it 7-1, Rockets. Inspite of drawing the Sonics full attention, the Rockets’ Matteo Capurso stayed “in the zone” by notching his eighth straight goal to put the Rockets ahead 8-1. Showing a spark of determination, the Sonics’ Jacob Rivera blasted in two net jets to suddenly cut the Rockets’ lead to 8-3 with ten minutes remaining. Feeding off Rivera’s leadership, the Sonics pounded away at the Rockets’ defense with Drew Radil, Nicholas DePinto, Mariam Rasslan, Sebastian Echeverry and the iron willed Kailey Delauter each taking their best shot. With their net under siege, the Rockets turned to Jason Herbert to flip the switch for their offense as Herbert sailed in two goals while Capurso racked up his 9th goal of the bout for an 11-3 Rockets victory punching their ticket to the “Gold Medal” round against the (8-0) Comets.
